Local breast cancer survivor made sure it didn't take her identity, discovered unexpected inner strength along the way

Oct. 21—CLAYTON — While breast cancer — and cancer in general — takes and takes, one thing Heather M. Delperuto is confident in is that it can't take who she is or how she looks at life.

A new normal going forward, there was a time where she thought she was losing herself, but she ended up gaining a greater understanding of what she can handle and who she is inside.

Ms. Delperuto found a lump in her left breast in June of 2021 and quickly made an appointment to see her primary care physician in Watertown.

Sent for further imaging to Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, where all diagnostic testing is done in one day, she was diagnosed on July 9 with stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma, and it was unknown at the time as to whether the cancer had traveled to her lymph nodes.

"After diagnosis, it's important to put a team of doctors together," Ms. Delperuto said. "I did a consult in Rochester and a consult in Syracuse and I picked the Syracuse team doctor Kara Kort as my breast surgeon; she's wonderful. Research and consult with different doctors, get a second opinion — I didn't hesitate to do any of that. I was so grateful that I did get second opinions and that I consulted with a few different teams. Getting a team that you're comfortable with is the best advice I can give."

It was highly suggested because of her age — 39 at the time — the size of her tumor, and the fact that it had spread outside of the ducts into the breast tissue, to have an immediate double mastectomy. That was August 24; and the results came back showing that she had grade 3 cells — the fastest growing and most aggressive type — and also six nodes on the left side that were positive.

Ms. Delperuto's breast cancer was hormone positive, called AGR2 negative. She explained that if you stop getting estrogen, that stops feeing the cancer, and all that factors into the treatment plan of how to tackle the disease. As family history can play a large part in breast cancer, Ms. Delperuto has a genetic mutation called the ATM gene that her mother also is positive for.

Immediately after the double mastectomy, tissue expanders were put in, and those stay in for about a year to a year and a half while a patient is doing active treatment to keep the breast tissue from losing elasticity. Because of her lymph nodes being positive, her grade and the size, Ms. Delperuto requested that a sample of her breast tissue be sent to California and examined with the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score Test.

"It can tell you your percentage of reoccurrence with or without chemo; mine came back at 39% chance of recurrence without chemo," she said. "That's why I took the chemo because it was such a high percentage of reoccurrence. Under 10, they don't recommend chemo as being beneficial because the side effects outweigh the benefit. Mine, I would definitely have more benefit from doing chemotherapy to lower the risk of it coming back."

Ms. Delperuto started chemo through the Walker Center for Cancer Care in Watertown last October and did eight rounds of dense dose therapy. To deal with the joint pain that came from the chemo, Ms. Delperuto regularly soaked in hot baths filled with Epsom salt. This past February, she started on 36 rounds of radiation at the Walker Center and finished at the end of March.

When she was undergoing treatments and losing her hair, Ms. Delperuto turned to wigs for a bit of fun and femininity. Not one to spend hundreds of dollars on them, she'd buy $20 wigs from Amazon, wear them for a few nights, and then chuck them, she said. Ranging from browns and blonds and even a purple wig, her favorite was a really long one with beach waves that she wore out for New Year's.

"I had chemo during winter, I was able to wear hats with them so they didn't look too crazy," she said. "They were fun, they kept my head warm and just made me feel better about going out of the house. Everybody knew they were wigs, but nobody cared."

She noted that her hair started growing pretty quickly after treatment was finished, though the color changed to dark, almost black, and was very thick and curly — quite the change from the very light brown, pin straight hair she'd had before — but not uncommon for cancer patients, she said.

Ms. Delperuto was able to continue working for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices CNY Realty throughout her treatments, noting that she was lucky enough to have clients who were very understanding.

"During my active treatment I would bring my computer with me in to get chemo and work while I was sitting there in and out of sleeping," she said.

Now things are more about medication management, oral therapy and finishing the breast reconstruction period. Ms. Delperuto will be on Tamoxifen to block hormones for a number of years to come, which is a very harsh drug on the system. She was also thrown into menopause before her body was ready because of her treatments, but said she has clean scans and clean margins, which means there is no evidence of disease.

Noting that because there was a lot of anxiety around her diagnosis and that she is a Type A personality, not having a plan was a scary thing; and once she had her team together, as well as a plan and schedule, it made it much easier for her to process what the next few months would look like.

"I decided that instead of being consumed, I turned it into my job and I had a job to do," Ms. Delperuto said. "And once I saw it from that perspective, it made it easier for me to process and just get through it. As my saying goes, boot and rally. I flew to Florida two times during treatment. I kept living, I bought Amazon wigs and had fun with them. When I was sick, I was sick and I would stay on my couch for days, but I also pulled myself together and made sure I got out of the house and was visiting people through COVID to keep my sanity."

Another thing that helped through the process was social media, especially Facebook groups for people dealing with cancer to connect and share day to day tips and tricks, support and more. These are also spaces to bounce questions off of fellow members and feel validated with things like side effects and reactions and not alone knowing everyone else in the group is experiencing the same kinds of things.

Ms. Delperuto said she also had two very good friends that guided her through her journey and then after being so public about it on social media with photos and updates, someone that had just been diagnosed reached out and asked her to help her through the process.

"You don't really know how strong you are until you have to be," Ms. Delperuto said. "I know it's a cliche, but it's so true. You don't have a choice — boot and rally."